pam_console(8) System Administrator's Manual pam_console(8)
NAME
pam_console - control permissions for users at the system
console
SYNOPSISsessionoptional/lib/security/pam_console.soauthrequired/lib/security/pam_console.soDESCRIPTION
pam_console.so is designed to give users at the physical
console (virtual terminals and local xdm-managed X ses-
sions by default, but that is configurable) capabilities
that they would not otherwise have, and to take those
capabilities away when the are no longer logged in at the
console. It provides two main kinds of capabilities: file
permissions and authentication.
When a user logs in at the console and nootheruseriscurrentlyloggedinattheconsole, pam_console.so will
change permissions and ownership of files as described in
the file /etc/security/console.perms. That user may then
log in on other terminals that are considered part of the
console, and as long as the user is still logged in at any
one of those terminals, that user will own those devices.
When the user logs out of the last terminal, the console
may be taken by the next user to log in. Other users who
have logged in at the console during the time that the
first user was logged in will not be given ownership of
the devices unless they log in on one of the terminals;
having done so on any one terminal, the next user will own
those devices until he or she has logged out of every ter-
minal that is part of the physical console. Then the race
can start for the next user. In practice, this is not a
problem; the physical console is not generally in use by
many people at the same time, and pam_console.so just
tries to do the right thing in weird cases.
ARGUMENTS
debug turns on debugging
permsfile=filename
tells pam_console.so to get its permissions
database from a different file than /etc/secu-
rity/console.perms
FILES/var/lock/console.lock/var/lock/console//etc/security/console.apps/etc/security/console.permsSEEALSOconsole.perms(5)
console(5)
/usr/doc/pam*/html/index.htmlBUGS
Let's hope not, but if you find any, please report them
via the "Bug Track" link at http://developer.redhat.com/
AUTHOR
Michael K. Johnson <johnsonm@redhat.com>
Red Hat Software 1999/2/4 1